Today in History

1907: The British liner RMS Lusitania set out from Liverpool, England, on its maiden voyage, arriving six days later in New York.

1927: American television pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth, 21, succeeded in transmitting the image of a line through purely electronic means with a device called an “image dissector.”

1940: Nazi Germany began its eight-month blitz of Britain during World War II with the first air attack on London.

1957: The original animated version of the NBC-TV peacock logo, used to denote programs “brought to you in living color,” made its debut at the beginning of “Your Hit Parade.”

1963: The National Professional Football Hall of Fame was dedicated in Canton, Ohio.

1964: The controversial “Daisy” commercial for President Lyndon Johnson’s election campaign aired on NBC-TV. The ad, featuring a little girl plucking flower petals followed by footage of a nuclear explosion, was perceived as an attack on Republican nominee Barry Goldwater, who is never shown or mentioned.

1977: The Panama Canal treaties, calling for the U.S. to eventually turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed in Washington by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.

2009: Addressing a Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati, President Barack Obama declared that modern benefits like paid leave, minimum wage and Social Security “all bear the union label” as he appealed to organized labor to help him win the health care fight in Congress.

2013: Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics, defeating Istanbul in the final round of secret voting by the International Olympic Committee.